Cupertino (CA) - Time for a change: Apple today replaced the Emac computer, which resembled the look of the first-generation CRT Imac, with an updated version that sports the design of the current system. The "education configuration" is available from $900 and is priced $100 below from regular Imac computers.

San Jose (CA) - Graphics cards could soon see a boost in speed with the next generation of graphics memory having entered the first stage of mass production. Samsung says that the technology is able to process images about 33% faster than today's GDDR3 memory.
Samsung manufactures the first GDDR4 memory modules in 80 nm and claims that each in input/output pin of the memory has a data processing bandwidth of 2.4 Gb/s, which compares to about 2.0 Gb/s of GDDR3 memory.

Nvidia will launch upgraded versions of the GeForce 7900 GTX and GeForce 7900 GT graphics cards that support HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) between July and the middle of August, with the cards continuing to be manufactured by Flextronics, according to sources at Taiwan graphics card makers.

Benq is planning to ship its BW1000 Blu-ray burner to Europe next month. The unit can read and write to 25 GB and 50 GB Blu-ray discs at up to 2X speeds, which equals about 9 MB per second. The BW1000 will also burn older DVDs and CDs.

Security researchers have found a new bug that can crash patched versions of Internet Explorer 6. The code and a demonstration link are available on the "Browser Fun" blog, which posts browser exploit code.

US retailers GameStop and Electronics Boutique have cleared another hurdle in their bid to merge following the approval of the deal by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
US retailers GameStop and Electronics Boutique have cleared another hurdle in their bid to merge following the approval of the deal by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The companies announced that the proposed merger had been "declared effective" yesterday and share prices rose steeply as a result.